In the spring of 2020, scientists at MIT assigned each amino acid on the coronavirus protein spike a unique note in a musical scale, converting the entire protein into a score. They hoped to find sites where antibodies or drugs might be able to bind, simply by searching for specific musical sequences that correspond to these sites.

Indira Allegra, in collaboration with sound artist and composer Shanna Sordahl, presents a triptych of new performances at Lake Merritt, a large tidal lagoon in the center of Oakland designated as the United States’ first official wildlife refuge in 1870 and identified as a COVID-19 transmission hotspot for the city today. Using deconstructed cello sounds which play with tension, timbre, and noise, alongside vocals and the sound of the lake itself, Sordahl and Allegra perform new compositions that work with viral musical time, creating a public offering that explores what we can learn from the coronavirus structure rather than only fighting it.

Often described as organisms “at the edge of life,” viruses have been an important means of horizontal gene transfer, which increases genetic diversity. Corresponding Sites brings these considerations of transfer, diversity, and viral time to Lake Merritt to create poetry with the environment.

Cecilia Vicuña defines her precarios as a way of being in the land, a series of gestures and site specific performance installations created collaboratively with the elements. Metaphors in space. Many of Vicuña's precarios are delicate compositions made from twigs, string, and other "basuritas" - left to weather the elements. Corresponding Sites uses the precario as a method of performance making and drawing in space. We start with the theme of center, moving on to water and concluding with wind. 

Performance/Vocal: Indira Allegra 
Performance/Cello: Shanna Sordahl 
Audio Recording: Danishta Rivero 
Mixing & Mastering: Shanna Sordahl

Commissioned by The Wattis Institute
Photo by Chani Bockwinkel

Corresponding Sites

Open Casket IX
2017                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Digital Weaving Installation, marble, dolomite, granite, concrete, three channel audio of families who have lost love ones to police violence.                                    42’ x 42’ x 22’ | 12.8m x 12.8m x 6.7m

Open Casket IX is a memorial for people who have lost loved ones to police violence. Here, traditional materials of memorial like stone are used alongside video and vocal compositions. Open Casket IX explores ways in which grief is non-linear without a clear pathway to an end - exerting its force on us from every direction.

Open Casket IX Mills EQ

Open Casket IX_Mills Museum

Memorials are vital for life. I'm into Quiet, the inner life of people, places and things, and the ritual, relational and performative aspects of weaving.

Indira Allegra Studio

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